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sarabuller
Reviews
The Haunting (1999)
Spectacularly, epically AWFUL.
The only two decent things in this movie ate Lili Taylor, whose valiant talent is all but wasted, and the special effects, which together are sadly not enough to make this movie anything but a waste. Catherine Zeta-Jones gets vastly undeserved star billing for nothing more than looking good, and Liam Neeson and Owen Wilson are uncharacteristically, painfully bad, even given almost nothing to do.
Last Tango in Halifax: Episode #5.1 (2020)
Turn out the lights- the party's over.
The ironic sexual romping that made the first two seasons funny has been replaced by grim exposes of everyone's darkest character traits. Apparently the only people left to be happy are the grandson and surprise-I'm-pregnant girlfriend. There's almost zero humor, no charm, and little reason to tune in- unless cynical predictability is your taste.
Marriage Story (2019)
Is this all it takes to win an Oscar?
As a child of divorce I was prepared for emotional scenes and contentious, "You said, I said..." But I expected better given the stellar cast. I was bored stiff and NON of the characters earned my respect or sympathy. Scarlett Johannsen deserves kudos for making the best of bad... EVERYTHING. And if Laura Dern's scenery-chewing emoting deserved and Oscar, so does William Shatner.
Little Women (2019)
Another ridiculously miscast remake
If you're going to bother with yet another unnecessary remake of Little Women, the LEAST you could do is get the casting to reflect the actual characters. Jo was CHESTNUT-haired, not blonde. Amy was golden blonde, not sandy brown-haired. And WHY is nearly EVERY director so afraid to cast Professor Bauer as the appropriate age? Afraid nobody will buy their love story? The character was NOT YOUNG. He was least 25 years older than Jo.
Dirty John (2018)
How can someone that intelligent still play the victim?
As a survivor of a violently abusive relationship, I thought I would be able to relate to Connie Briton's character, and instead I want to smack her face and say, "WTH? What's YOUR excuse??" What possible reason does this woman have for letting this animal control her, when she has NONE of the usual reasons for sticking around?
I adore Connie Briton, but this is the first time I've ever seen her play a character that unsympathetic, because's she's SUCH an IDIOT.
P.S. The rest of the cast just plain sucks.
The King (2019)
Great romanticized drama with too little historical fact
This film is gorgeously filmed, gritty, and haunting as DRAMA. Unfortunately, it suffers much of the same historical inaccuracies that plague many recent films of its genre.
Much has already been said about the goofs in the staging of the battle at Agincourt, and I won't bother to reiterate those.
What I find much worse is the casting and characterization of both King Henrys, and Catherine of Valois. Thimothée Chalomet gives a wonderful turn as Henry V- as he would have been at least 7-10 years BEFORE Agincourt. At the time of the battle, Henry V was 24 - NOT a boy, especially in those times. But issues with Catherine are worse. She was 15 YEARS younger than Henry, and casting and characterizing her as his contemporary is a ludicrous as the casting of Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII in "The Tudors" - but that's a separate gripe. And Catherine of Valois was a royal princess trained from birth to prepare for and accept her role in the Royal Marriage Game. No matter how she felt about her husband, she would NEVER have spoken to him as was depicted in The King, ESPECIALLY given the difference in their REAL ages. A) she would have known better and b) he would not have tolerated such words from her. Henry V was notorious for his insensitivity and intolerance for criticism. All the contextual errors means that that final, touching scene where Catherine and Henry "get each other" is probably even MORE inaccurate than the omission of the stakes in the ground that protected the archers in the REAL battle of Agincourt. Oh, and Ben Mendelsohn is tragically wasted as Henry IV. Mendelsohn is fine talent, but his mumbling and lurking beneath filthy hair do no justice to either the role or the actor.
Reign (2013)
Dreadful, just dreadful
Sexplots disguised as historical drama are unbelievably bad, and this is one of the worst ever. This is an example of a despicable trend for presenting history (England seems to be the most frequent victim) re-written for an audience only interested in the juicy bits and bored by actual fact. It's so sad in these times when so few writers develop anything beyond romance novel tripe. This is even worse than the Tudors (which had the worst casting of really good actors imaginable). Even Anna Popplewell (nice young actress) can't help this disaster. If you enjoy voyeurism without any redeemable plot, you might like this. Little to no historical accuracy, just sex romps in period dress. Don't waste your popcorn.